Weathering the Mystery

fun way to make a wish about the weather. And while today it's common for people to wish for enough snow to cancel school, these of customs go all the way back to ancient times, but back then such customs were a bit more trying. Every fall in ancient Greece, a strange event took place in the city of Eleusis, just outside Athens. The event lasted nine days and consisted of a series of rituals to honor Demeter, the goddess

of harvest, and Earth's fertility Now. According to the myth, Demeter's daughter Persephone was kidnapped by Hades and brought to the underworld. Demeter embarked on a harrowin search for her daughter, and after nine days they were reunited in Eleusis. Thousands of people participated in the rituals despite this, though little is known about what actually took place there, but here's

what we do know. On the first day, people gathered at the Agora, the marketplace located within the Acropolis and Athens, and once there, a magistrate made a welcome speech. In this speech, the magistrate explained that only certain people could participate. After the Greco Persian Wars, no one who had ever

committed murder was allowed to join. This was the first sign that moral purity was of utmost importance during this event, and the theme continued from there, and those who were allowed to participate made their way down to the el Eusinian. This was a sanctuary dedicated to Demeter and Persephony. The el Usinian was comprised of three terraces. It was built mainly from limestone, and grand columns stood at the front

and the back of the building. It was a grand site before the participants could enter the sanctuary, though they were required to wash their hands. On the second day, the participants walked together to the nearby gulf. They brought a small pig with them and bathed it in the water there. Then they bathed themselves, and afterward they returned to the city and sacrificed the pig. They likely sacrificed

other animals as well. The third and fourth days involved more bathing or purification rituals and more sacrifices, and the fifth day is when the participants departed Athens and headed for Eleusis. This was a fourteen mile trek known as the Grand Procession. The route they took was called the Sacred Way. Priestesses of Demeter and Persephone led the group while carrying sacred baskets. Most people journeyed on foot, but the wealthy got to ride in carriages.

and the people were expected to humbly endure this. Now the sixth, seventh, and eight days mainly involved fasting. Occasionally the participants drank certain wines or other libations that were significant to Demeter's story, but at some point they were ushered into a pitch black temple. This was the temple of Demeter, known as the Telestian. The Telesphere was the largest inclosed building in all of ancient Greece. It could fit thousands of people, and without any fires inside, it

was pitch black. The participants had to find their way to the front of the temple by simply feeling around in the dark, and this was no easy task either, considering that there was no light and thousands of other bodies bumping into each other. And the goal was simple to recreate the feelings of disorientation and fear that Demeter experienced while searching for her daughter. And when all the

participants finally found their way, they were given light. To their surprise, they stood before a small stage and there priests and priestesses performed a pageant about the myth of demeonter and persephony. It's possible that maybe the viewers also sipped on hallucinogenic cocktails during the performance. On the ninth day, the people returned to Athens. By now they were fully initiated into a cult of people who had gone through

the same rituals they had. Only these people knew the full truth of what took place during those nine days. The event was perhaps the most secret ritual of its time. Of course, some people did speak about their experience, though just not in great detail. Many claim that the rituals completely changed them and even removed any fear of death they once had. This is ironic because speaking about what

happened during the event was punishable by death. Scotlars today referred to this mystifying event as the Illusinian mysteries, And although it carried on for at least a thousand years, we still don't know exactly what drove people's devotion to the ritual, other than their need for a good harvest.

So the next time you harbor a secret desire for the weather to cooperate with your hopes and dreams, be thankful that our culture leans on a groundhog's shadow and not a pitch black temple to deliver a bit of hope. History is full of memorable pranks, but one practical joke in particular stands out for bringing about the collapse of the world's oldest democracy. You see, on the morning of June seventh of four point fifteen BCE, Athenian citizens woke

up to a startling discovery. During the night, someone had gone throughout the city defacing statues of the god Hermes. The vandal had smashed their stone faces in and hacked off their formerly prominent Genitalia panic, of course spread. The mass castration was a terribly unlucky omen, partly because the statues were supposed to ward off evil, then partly because Hermes was celebrated as the patron of travelers. The Athenian fleet was getting ready to set sail for Sicily, where

they planned to attack the city of Syracuse. By mutilating the statues, the perpetrators spooked the superstitious Athenian soldiers, undermining their resolve at a critical moment. But who was behind the attack, Well, Victually, everyone thought the work was done by spies trying to sabotage Athens. On the eve of its military campaign. But soon enough, suspicion fell on a figure much closer to home. His name was Alcibiades, a young politician and general who was supposed to lead the

expedition to Sicily. He was handsome, charming, brilliant, and obscenely wealthy, not to mention a notorious philanderer and a party animal. As a young man, he'd been a favorite student of Socrates, and people still told stories about the philosopher dragging this pupil away from brothels. More recently, though, Alcibiades had developed

a reputation for drunkenly interrupting sacred religious rights. But at the end of the day, the big question is was he actually guilty of vandalizing those statues, and centuries later, it's impossible to say for sure. Maybe he did it out of a misguided hope that the expedition would be postponed, or maybe his political rivals did it just trying to get rid of him. Whatever the case, he never got

the chance to defend himself. His enemies just waited until his fleet departed, and then they tried him without himself being present. They quickly found him guilty and sentenced him to be executed upon his return. Unsurprisingly, the news made Alcibides a lot less excited about carrying through with his mission. He deserted his post and fled to the enemy city

of Sparta, trading military secrets in exchange for sanctuary. He even advised the Spartans to intervene in the attack on Syracuse, thwarting the expedition that he had once been in charge of. It seemed like Alcibides had come out on top, but his mischievous nature soon got him in a lot of trouble again. He was exposed for having an affair with the Spartan queen and promptly ran out of the city. By this point, though, he had made enemies with two of the greatest powers in Greece, so he fled to

Asia Minor, taking refuge in a Persian outpost. The Persian governor there hated virtually all Greeks, but Alcibides somehow managed to charm him and even helped broker a tenuous peace deal between Persia and Athens. He probably could have lived

there comfortably forever, but the trickster was homesick. He longed to return to Athens and decided that the swiftest way to do so would be to get rid of the government that had once condemned him to death, and so, through some savvy political maneuvering, al Sabides masterminded a coup against the Athenian government, replacing its democratic assembly with a council of four hundred oligarchs. All charges against him were dropped. He returned to Athens, where he was lauded as a

hero and given absolute control over the army. His revenge could only have been more complete if he had ruled the city himself, and he almost did. You see, Alcabides became so popular that the Athenian citizens wanted to see him installed as a dictator. His rivals managed to avoid this by sending him off to battle once again, but he shirked off his duties, leaving the army in the hands of yet another general while he was visiting some brothels.

This got him kicked out of Athens for a second time, and, just like before, he fled to Persia, where he was finally tracked down and killed by Spartan assassins. Meanwhile, the anti democratic government that he helped put in place was soon overthrown allowing democracy to return to the city once again. The trickster Sins had finally caught up with him, and ultimately little had changed. But for this brief moment, Alcibides interrupted a system of popular government that had lasted for

almost two centuries. Most scholars today think that he was the very first man in history to bring down a democracy, and that makes him a worthy study for anyone interested in preserving our own At the very least, he's a great reminder that sometimes liberty dies in the sound of thunderous laughter. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast

dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manke in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at Theworldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.